Martin McDonald of Ballyroan Abbeyleix and District proved the star of the Irish team when he finished second over 55 at the World Masters Mountain Running Championships in Betws-y-Coed, Wales. McDonald just held off fellow Irish athlete Ger Maloney of St Paul’s in Wexford for the silver medal. With Ger Griffin sixth the Irish also took M55 team gold.
In other good Irish results, Hazel McLoughlinn of Lagan Valley was fifth W35, while both Anthony Glover M40 and Mike Curley Cunningham M50 finished tenth in their age groups. When it came to the teams, the M35 and M50 teams took silver and the M40 and M45 teams bronze – a great result for the Irish.
The senior
World Championships along with the British and Irish Junior International takes place at the same venue next weekend.
World Masters Mountain Running Championships, Betws-y-Coed, Wales (updated and corrected)
10.6km (O35-50; 218 finishers)
M35: 1 Zac Freudenburg (Ned) 42.04, 2 Simon Bailey (GBR) 42.21, Irish: 11 Stephen Cleary (Clonakilty) 46.01, 13 Robert Cleary (Clonakilty) 46.22, 16 David McNeilly (Newcastle) 47.59, 22 Seamus Kelly (Ballymena Runners) 54.50, 23 John White (Cappawhite) 54.53. M40: 10 Anthony Glover (Westbury Hrs) 47.11, 17 Liam Dunne (Ballyroan/Abbeyleix) 50.10, 18 Alex Brennan (Ballymena Runners) 50.14, M45: 6 Tom Blackburn (Mooreabbey Milers) 47.58, 14 Bernard Fortune (SBR) 49.30, 25 Paul Synnott 52.36. M50: 10 Mike Curley Cunningham (Mooreabbey Milers) 48.37, 39 Mick Gygax (Raheny Shamtock) 59.58, 44 Syl Ivers (Gap Trail Runners) 63.28,
W35: 1 Anna Lupton (GBR) 49.22. Irish – 5: Hazel McLoughlin (Lagan Valley) 60.28. W45: 7 Shileen O’Kane (Lagan Valley) 55.18, 17 Zoe Melling (Rathfarnham WSAF) 64.14.
8.7km race (O55+; 205 finishers)
M55: 1 Franz Prager (Ger) 40.45, 2 Martin McDonald (Ireland/Ballyroan/Abbeyleix) 41.03, 3 Ger Maloney (Ireland/St Pauls’s) 41.04. Other Irish: 6 Gerard Griffin (Moreabbey Milers) 42.07, 39 Jorg Lorenz 58.18..
M60: 24 Sean O’Neill (Cooraclare) 51.15.
No comments yet.